Peace Cleric 5e Guide

Peace Domain 5e Guide Rating Scheme

This guide is meant as a deep dive into the Peace Domain Cleric subclass. For a full overview of the Cleric class, check out our cleric 5e Guide.

For our full class guides, we use the following color rating scheme:

• Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
• Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
• Green is a good option
• Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
• Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

For our subclass guides, we focus mainly on the Blue and Sky Blue options, because the other options are discussed in the parent guide or other subclass guides. We also discuss options that normally would be good for a typical build, but underperform when used in a subclass.

What Is the Peace Domain Cleric in 5e?

5e Peace clerics are intended to be paragons of virtue and peace, as the name might suggest. The subclass features a few nifty tricks to ‘bond’ people together through their class ability Emboldening Bond. They also excel at giving yourself, or allies, a stellar bonus to most of their rolls, stacking with bless.

These clerics also excel at being the face of the party, doing diplomatic actions with NPCs, and being the most level-headed. If you plan to have a lot of RP in your campaign, you might also want to consider this class.

Strengths

The most significant advantage of the 5e peace cleric is the Bond ability we mentioned earlier. Empowering Bond allows almost your entire team to have a static 1d4 to any attack roll, ability check, or saving throw as long as they’re close to another bonded individual. This can be repeated equal to your proficiency bonus, meaning you can keep this going for a long time.

They also have some damage reduction abilities and a Channel Divinity that can heal their allies, meaning they get a couple of potent free heals per day. Overall, this was designed to be a stellar support class.

Weaknesses

Dealing damage won’t be your forte, as this class was made to support. While you get some damaging cantrips, you won’t be topping any DPS charts as a Peace cleric. You are almost entirely based around supporting your allies.

This class is also pretty underwhelming to start out with, so you’ll feel somewhat underpowered for a while. If you plan to run this character from 1 to 20, you’ll feel pretty useless for the first handful of levels.

Best Races for Peace Clerics 5e

Wisdom is your primary stat for this class, as it helps improve your healing with your Balm of Peace and your Potent Spellcasting at 8th level. Picking a race that offers a good WIS bonus is essential to get to 20 as fast as possible.

Many non-standard races are available, so we will only list those that are good options for this class. Remember that these are typically limited by the setting and source material chosen by the DM. Check with your DM before selecting any of the races listed below.

Standard Races

Non-Standard Races

Best Backgrounds for Peace Domain

Naturally, most backgrounds only apply to roleplaying your character and a few skill proficiencies. Because Wis is so important to you, you’ll want to stick with one that gives you WIS-based skills. If you want to dip into CHA to act as the party negotiator, that’s an option too.

Acolyte: The default Cleric background, as it makes the most sense in terms of lore and mechanics. It’s the safest bet.

Courtier: Another strong contender, this one lines up perfectly for our subclass. We are negotiators and peacekeepers, and this background helps you maintain that.

Peace Cleric Ability Scores

You gain Ability Score Increases at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level.

Wisdom is your most essential ability score. It scales with your Channel Divinity, your spellcasting, and your skills. You want to max this out as soon as possible so that you can focus on other stats afterward. CHA is a close second, as you will most likely be handling a lot of NPC interaction in this role.

STR: Not worth putting points into since you’ll want to be keeping your distance. Dump stat.

DEX: Somewhat important as it helps your AC if you won’t be swinging for heavy armor. Because of bounded accuracy, this is especially true at lower levels.

CON: Very important, as you’ll want to maintain concentration for many of your key spells. It also lets you tank more damage with your Protective Bond in a pinch.

INT: Not all that important, consider this a dump stat.

WIS: Your most important stat, not only for your heal but spellcasting as well. You’ll want to max this ASAP to get the most prepared spells and heals.

CHA: Not as crucial as WIS, but you’ll use this a lot. Peace clerics act as great negotiators and faces of the party, so you’ll probably end up relying on CHA often out of combat.

Peace Domain 5e Class Progression

1st Level

Hit Dice: You get a d8 hit dice which isn’t great, luckily you won’t be on the front lines.

Saves: WIS and CHA saves don’t come up often at lower levels, but when they crop up the effects are usually dire. You also have the benefit that these are both abilities you like to punp, so having them as saves is pretty nice.

Proficiencies: You get light armor, medium armor, shields, and all simple weapons, so you’ll only need to worry about heavy armor if you absolutely want it.

Skills: Because you shine outside of combat, these skills are essential. Refer to our Cleric 5e Guide.

Spellcasting: WIS is our spellcasting ability which is nice because we’re able to pump useful skills at the same time as our spellcasting effects. Combine this with the fact that the cleric spell list is full of powerful spells, we’ll want to make sure we have a good list of them prepared. We also get Ritual Spellcasting too, so keep an eye out for spells with the Ritual tag.

Peace Domain Spells: You get access to a few nice buffs and some great supporting spells. Because clerics get their subclass at 1st level, you get extra spells off the bat.

• 1st level
• Heroism: Great buff effect, scales nicely as well.
• Sanctuary: A good spell to have in your pocket if a team member is in dire straits or you need to protect an NPC.

• 3rd level
• Aid: Proactive healing rather than reactive healing and at a higher, guaranteed rate than Cure Wounds. 5 hit points can make a huge difference in keeping the party alive, and the spell doesn’t require concentration. Can be cast at higher levels.
• Warding Bond: This buff is really good, but can be quite risky for yourself if used at the wrong time. Make sure you aren’t overwhelmed by enemies and have a sizeable amount of hit points and AC.

• 5th level
• Beacon of Hope: Beacon of hope seems to be best used in a moment of desperation when many of your party members are severely hurt. Unfortunately, this spell uses up your action so you can’t get to healing until the next round.
• Sending: Solid communication spell for at least one party member to have.

• 7th level
• Aura of Purity: You won’t use this all the time, but if you face a lot of enemies that can inflict negative status conditions this is great.
• Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere: DEX-based save or suck. Great way to take a baddy out of the fight while you finish off its friends.

• 9th level
• Greater Restoration: Great spell to have that can get you or party members out of very tricky situations.
• Telepathic Bond: Allows your party to communicate when they normally wouldn’t be able to.

Implement of Peace: Three good skills, Performance is the only one that’s not on the cleric’s skill list, but it’s not worth a pickup most time. Better to stack up on knowledge skills when choosing your cleric skills, and grab Persuasion here.

Emboldening Bond: This is your best asset, as a repeatable bless effect that not only stacks with bless but lasts for ten minutes, meaning it can be used pretty frequently.

2nd Level

Channel Divinity

• Turn Undead: Refer to our Cleric 5e Guide.
• Balm of Peace: Not only can this get you out of melee combat scot-free but you can heal as many party members can you can reach with your movement.

4th Level

5th Level

Destroy Undead: Refer to our Cleric 5e Guide.

6th Level

Protective Bond: This is the real reason you pick this subclass. While your Emboldening Bond is active, you can essentially misty step your allies around the map for free if someone gets attacked. This is especially good for parties that have barbarians or another build that wants to tank for their party members.

8th Level

Potent Spellcasting: It’s a nice buff to your damaging cantrips, but you’re never going to top the damage charts as a Peace cleric.

10th Level

Divine Intervention: Refer to our Cleric 5e Guide.

17th Level

Expansive Bond: You get to double the range of your two best class abilities. More importantly, if someone uses a the teleport feature of your Protective Bond they get resistance to the damage of the attack. This essentially can create a situation where all attacks your party takes deal half damage. Absolutely incredible.

Best Spells for Peace Clerics 5e

Clerics already have access to a lot of potent spells. As a 5e Peace cleric, you won’t be getting to deal much damage, so consider your spells wisely. We won’t list all of your available spells here but we will talk about the best ones. If you want a full rundown, check out our 5e cleric guide.

Cantrip

• Guidance: Outside of combat, you can use this literally every time a party member makes an ability check. Just make sure you’re within arms reach of the creature you’ll be providing guidance to and make sure to announce it before the ability check is called for.
• Sacred Flame: Good ranged damage option early on. Also scales well as a source of radiant damage.
• Toll the Dead: Good damage, rarely resisted damage type, and solid range. Obviously, it’s best to use on an enemy that has already been damaged.

1st level

• Bless: What's better than adding 1d4 to your attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws? Adding 2d4! Stacked with Emboldening Bond, bless can provide insane value to help make sure your party member's attacks hit while at the same time avoiding nasty effects.
• Healing Word: Great option even if you have a dedicated healer as it can be useful for resetting death saving throws from a distance and only requires a bonus action.
• Protection from Evil and Good: You love to see this spell in any party, the buffs this can provide are extremely useful in any combat scenario. The creature types this affects are very common so this spell will likely be useful in your campaign.

2nd level

• Spiritual Weapon: Spiritual weapon sticks around without needing concentration, is a bonus action to summon, has an effective damage type, and scales with your spellcasting modifier making this an absolutely stellar spell. As a Peace cleric, this will be your go-to option for damage. You can use your bonus action each turn to bonk an enemy and use your action for some amazing support abilities.
• Hold Person: This can be encounter-breaking against humanoids. Scales well with levels.

3rd level

• Revivify: Every party needs a party member with revivify and as the Peace cleric, you've officially volunteered to be the one. Make sure you're party members pitch in to buy the 300gp spell components that will be instrumental in bringing them back to life when they inevitably die.
• Aura of Vitality: The healing takes set up and isn’t that impressive considering this requires concentration.
• Dispel Magic: Always make sure at least one of your party members has this.

4th level

• Banishment: Get rid of creatures from another plane, or take out a big threat for most of the combat. One of the better save or suck spells out there. Keep in mind that, unless the creature is natively from another plane, they will return after the spell ends.

5th level

• Summon Celestial: One of the best summon spells from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. The celestial you summon has flight, ranged and melee attacks, radiant damage, and healing abilities.
• Greater Restoration: Great spell to have that can get you or party members out of very tricky situations.
• Mass Cure Wounds: Range, multiple targets, and decent healing power. One of the best bang-for-your-buck spells if you have multiple party members down.

6th level

• Blade Barrier: Most wall spells are worthwhile ways to divide a battlefield and provided a consistent source of damage and blade barrier is no different.
• Heal: Strong, dependable healing with no roll needed. Also can be used at range and has some of the lesser restoration benefits built in. At 6th-level, it’s expensive but worth it if you can use its effects to the fullest.
• Heroes’ Feast: The expensive casting cost doesn’t take away from the undeniably powerful buff your whole party will receive. The benefits also last a full adventuring day and don’t require concentration. Great spell to burn the night before a deadly battle.

7th level

• Resurrection: Death is temporary when you’ve got resurrection. Because there is no time limit like revivify, this can be stocked when required.
• Regenerate: Not much more healing than mass cure wounds, but it does have the advantage of growing limbs.
• Plane Shift: Good utility to run away from a fight that has turned south, or force a CHA save to avoid getting banished.

8th level

• Holy Aura: An incredible buff that gets even better paired with your Bond ability. You’ll be casting this pretty frequently. Plus, it also affects undead foes and fiends, which can sometimes be relevant.

9th level

• Mass Heal: The best healing spell a healer can hope for. 700 hit points divided as you choose can essentially hit the “reset” button on an encounter you were about to lose. Also bundled with some lesser restoration benefits.

Best Feats for Peace Clerics 5e

• Fey Touched: A free misty step outside of your Bond is excellent, plus you get access to a few decent damaging spells too.

• Metamagic Adept: You get the opportunity to quicken or twin a healing spell, which can make a huge difference in a tough fight.

• Heavily Armored: If you want to be in melee range and tank some hits, you’ll want heavy armor. Sadly, peace clerics don’t get access to heavy armor without this feat.

• Resilient: Resilient (CON) grants +1 to CON and proficiency in CON saving throws which can help with concentration checks and some HP. Seeing as you likely won't be on the frontlines, this isn't as necessary as other builds, despite the heavy concentration list clerics have.

Peace Cleric 5e Build Example

With the 5e Peace Domain cleric, we are supporting our team with healing and buffs, mainly with bless paired with our Emboldening Bond. Once we hit 6th level, our Protective Bond allows our bonded allies to teleport around the battlefield, which is a massive buff to your party if you have a barbarian or other tank. Outside of combat, we’ve picked up a couple of social skills to help with trying to maintain the peace.

We’ll start with a Kalashtar as our race because we get a nice +2 to WIS and +1 to CHA off the bat. Dual Mind and Mental Discipline probably won’t be super relevant, but that isn’t why we took this race. Mind Link allows us to communicate with our allies with ease or with an enemy we need to communicate with.

Clerics have some pretty great starting spells, especially our Domain spells. You’ll want to prioritize buffs over healing until you get more slots for heals, though, because your Channel Divinity offers some solid healing. Any spells marked with an asterisk below are Domain spells and are always prepared.

Our class needs to prioritize WIS, CHA, and CON, with CHA being the least important. CON will keep us alive and survive more hits while in combat, while CHA helps us when we need to be diplomatic.